


A New Year’s Resolution

by Jbee



Series: Gates of Askr: Year One [1]
Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:54:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23659435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jbee/pseuds/Jbee
Summary: The Summoner needs to come up with a New Year’s Resolution, but is is good enough for a grand heroes of Askr?
Series: Gates of Askr: Year One [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1703545
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	A New Year’s Resolution

**Author's Note:**

> This series is a collection of short stories driven by the FEH Subreddit Weekly Writing Prompts. Published December 31, 2019, "The summoner makes a New Years Resolution."

The morning light was bright and warmed the chilly halls of the Askr castle. Kiran was on her way to meet up with the Askr Trio at the dining hall as Alfonse invited them to brunch after the winter festival and Kiran was not someone to turn down a free meal.

She had left a little early so she could enjoy the warm morning and walk the long way through the gardens. She wanted to use this opportunity to check on a few of the critters that had taken up residences on the castle grounds that year. This was a task she had taken on a couple of weeks ago when the snow started to fall, and Kiran had a new excuse to continue these visits since it transitioned nicely into the purpose of this morning’s meeting.

Alfonse’s alternative motive for inviting them to brunch was his clever attempt to get each one of them to come up with a New Year’s Resolution. He had sent each of them a card with his invite for them to fill out. The card was meant to help guide and motivate them while coming up with their resolution. Today was the day Alfonse asked them to have their cards ready so they could share their ideas as a group and keep each other on track.

Kiran cringed when she had received the card. She rarely took part in this tradition in the past, and when she did it was always the same thing, eat more vegetables, take the stairs, reduce the time spent on electronics, _*blah, blah, blah…*_ and these promises always ended the same way with her falling back into bad habits within the first month.

As Kiran stepped out of the hallway and into the gardens she felt the warm sun hit her. The longest night was behind them and there were only sunny days to look forward too. Kiran wanted next year to be different, it was going to be her second year in Askr and she wanted to take a more active role around the castle. Besides, letting down Alfonse and the rest of the heroes was out of the question! So she decided to play it safe and she came up with a resolution that she knew she could keep.

As Kiran reached the pavilion located in the centre garden she let out a soft * _pst, pst, pst_ * to get the attention of her furry friends. Soft mews, and mummers could be heard as she lifted the seat of the bench, this is where the groundskeeper kept the food scraps for the garden animals. While she filled the small feeding bowls that were kept on the outer pavilion more, hungry animals joined the small group. As Kiran took a seat on the bench to watch, a few of her favorites came to her for attention. Of course Kiran was more than happy to indulged them in some head pats and chin scratches before she had to say goodbye and be on her way.

Kiran pulled the small card out of her coat pocket that Alfonse had issued them. He had clearly put some thought in creating these cards. The parchment was high quality and he had gone a bit overboard with his calligraphy as usual. At the top of the card it stated “I Hereby Declare my New Year’s Resolution” with a blank space to list their idea and sign the bottom.

Kiran read the words that she had proudly wrote on the card, _“Help Look After the Garden Animals”_. She smiled and quietly said to herself “There’s no way I’m breaking this New Year’s Resolution; next year will be different!”

* * *

“I just think that when we opened up the concert hall for all the heroes to listen to their favorite songs we should have made an emphasis to have more music from Askr in the selection.” Anna stated, “I think this is a missed opportunity for us to share our culture with the rest of the realms we are hosting.” She added closing her menu and crossing her arms.

Kiran was lost in thought pouring over the selection of dishes on the menu. They all seemed appetizing and she was struggling to make a decision between the Big Steak with Poached Eggs or the Kebab and Omelets. With her schedule it was normal for Kiran to just grab-and-go a sandwich or a bowl of noodles for her meals, her mouth was just watering thinking about the delicious hot meats and creamy rich eggs that was in her near future.

Sharena sat across from Kiran and order them all a round of Orange Slush with Berry Bliss toppings, Kiran was only half listening to her friends talk about the current affairs of Askr, and she kind of wished that she had grabbed the window seat before Alfonse did when they sat down. Alfonse and Anna sat across from each other continuing their discussion.

“Yes, I do agree with you Anna,” Alfonse began, “but it’s not as easy as enforcing the Songs of Askr are always played in the concert hall. If the heroes don’t hear something they’re familiar with from their own worlds they will lose interest in attending all together.” He explained to Anna. “It’s about finding a balance, and integrating new experiences into their normal lives.” Alfonse paused and then smiled, “Which brings us nicely to my next topic,” he proudly exclaimed, “I hope you all have your New Year’s Resolution cards ready!” Alfonse pulled out his card from the sleeve of his tunic and waited for the rest of them to follow his lead.

Anna rolled her eyes at this segue, and pulled a little black book out from her belt. “I lost your card Alfonse, but don’t worry, I wrote down my resolution in my _Little Book of Big Ideas_!” Anna said as she gave Alfonse a wink.

“I didn’t lose mine this time!” Sharena piped in, as she placed her sketched book on the table. “but I thought that the card was a bit plain, so I made my own!” she pulled out her card which was bigger, and more colorful, covered in small doodles.

Kiran smiled at Sharena’s handy work across from her and took out her original card and just placed it face down to the side of her place setting.

Alfonse said, tapping his card on the table, “Excellent! How about I go first to get us started, and then we can go clockwise around the table!” he cleared his throat, “I Hereby Declare my New Year’s Resolution is to learn something new each day.” He paused after he made his resolution statement, and nobody said anything.

Kiran wasn’t sure if they were to clap at this point, and right as she raised hands to do so, Alfonse continued. “So I plan on achieving this by not only expanding my daily load of readings with articles on hobbies I have no interest in, but by also seeking out heroes and asking questions about their projects and homelands.” Alfonse paused once again, and added an awkward “Thank-you.” to wrap up his speech and gestured to Anna to take it from there.

Anna stood up holding her small book and pointed at it, “As you know it is up to me, the Commander of the Order of Heroes, to organize for the future wellbeing of our troops.” Anna proudly said, “This year my New Year’s Resolution is to come up with a business plan to get my ideas down on paper and review that plan quarterly so I am able to easily project costs.” Anna said waving her little book out to show everyone.

“Anna, you weren’t doing that befo…?” Alfonse began to ask, but Anna continued.

“You’ll see that with this business plan we as a group will be more motivated to turn my ideas into money, I mean, reality!” Anna bowed and took her seat again.

Kiran and Sharena clapped for Anna as she wrapped up her presentation, Kiran smiled and couldn’t resist adding fuel to this flame.

“Anna, I think we will need to discuss this further. Your resolution shouldn’t be your actual job.” Alfonse said, disappointment in his voice. “A resolution should be a goal to form a new habit that betters your life.”

“Oh?” Anna questioned him, “and what makes you think that your resolution is so much better.” Anna said crossing her arms and looking away from Alfonse, “seems to me you’re just trying to find an excuse to spend more time with your books.” She coldly added.

Alfonse flushed red and sensing that this could turn ugly, Kirnan picked up her own card, but Sharena already had the same idea and was quicker to intervene.

“My turn!” Sharena declared, “I Hereby Solemnly Swear that I will pet more animals this year!” Sharena cried out, holding up her card in all its colourful glory for them to see.

Kiran was excited to hear about Sharena’s resolution. They both had similar ideas, maybe they could collaborate and take care of the animals in the garden together! But just as Kiran picked up her card to show Sharena their happy coincidence there was the familiar voice a disappointment.

“Sharena, I expected more from you.” Alfonse said, rubbing his brows in a circular motion with his hand. “I think you are both missing the point of this assignment.” He sighed, and Sharena lowered her picture, flipping it over to examine where she might have gone wrong.

“It’s fine, I can work on this with each one of you after brunch.” Alfonse said “Kiran, why don’t you share your card next?”

Kiran stomach turned, she couldn’t share what she had written on her card, Alfonse would see right through her plan to spend more time in the garden with her cute friends. she panicked, and said the first thing that came to mind.

“I plan to eat more vegetables!” Kiran squealed out, the rest of the group was silent and she let out an awkward laugh to go along with their awkward silence.

Thankfully their drinks had come at that moment, and this gave Kiran enough of a distraction to hide her card in the pocket of her coat. They began to give their meal orders, and Kiran exhaled a breath of relief that she might have dodged Alfonse’s wrath.

“I’ll have the vegetable stir-fry with a side salad, thank-you!” she tried to sound enthusiastic when she made her ordered, changing it at the last minute to coincide with her new resolution. So much for turning over a new leaf this year, Kiran thought to herself.

* * *

Kiran had drawn a nice hot bath when she got back to her room. Events didn’t quite go as planned, and after Anna, Sharena and her shared their resolution goals with Alfonse the fun brunch out with friends turned into more pain than pleasure. Kiran place the bowl of noodles on the bath bench and sunk back into the warm water of the tub.

For the rest of the meal Kiran kept quiet and listened to Alfonse as he explained to everyone the tradition and history of a New Year’s Resolution, all the while she pushed veggies around her plate and wished that she had something stronger then orange slush to drink. Kiran had instant regret over her decision to order the vegetable dish and was still very hungry when they said their farewells.

After their brunch meeting Kiran stopped in on the gardens to check on her furry friends again to make sure that they would be well fed, had warm dry bedding and settled in for the cold weather they were expecting that night. Even though she wasn’t able to make this task her resolution, she enjoyed doing it and wasn’t going to give it up she promised herself.

On her way back to her room she decided to stop by one of the open kitchens to made a quick bowl of noodles with extra slices of meats and eggs, packing it up to take back with her. Upon arrival to her room she started her bath and decided to enjoyed the hot noodles and soup as she soaked in the hot water. She knew that was unconventional, but after all that happened, what difference did it make, who would ever know, but her? She smiled to herself, she couldn’t help but feel just like the egg that bobbed around her noodle bowl and that made her feel warm and happy inside and out.

She took the bowl back from the bench in front of her and began to slurp long wavy noodles into her mouth, when all of a sudden there was a knock at her chamber door.

“Kiran? It’s Alfonse, are you here?” she heard through her chambers door.

Kiran wasn’t expecting any visitors and the knock had startled her, causing her to inhale some of her soup she had been eating, and began coughing. “ _Just… minute_!” She tried to called out between the coughs and chokes followed by wheezing.

Alfonse quite concerned began turning the latch to her door while asking if she was okay.

Kiran quickly jumped out of the tub dropping her bowl of noodles into the bath and grabbed a towel to wrap around herself just as Alfonse entered her chambers.

“Are you okay!?” he started to ask, only to stop and blush red when he realized what he had just walked into.

Kiran tried to catch her breath, “Y-yes… it’s... just…s-soup…” she wheezed, hopping behind the privacy screen.

“I’m so sorry Kiran, I should have waited, but I was concerned when I heard the commotion, and…” Alfonse started to apologize for what happened. “Wait, are those noodles in your bath?” Alfonse asked handing Kiran her coat. “The practices of your world can be… interesting.” He said staring at the noodles floating in the bath.

“It’s not…” Kiran began to try and explain the odd situation, “I just knocked them in when I got out and, oh it doesn’t matter, why are you here Alfonse?” she snapped a bit at him, she was disappointed in losing her noodles in the bath.

“Oh right, it’s about your resolution.” Alfonse walked over to her couch across from the fireplace and sat down, “you see I found this when we were leaving the dining hall today.” He pulled out a New Year’s Resolution card, and held it out for her to take.

Kiran reached into her coat pocket, it was empty, that was her card that he held out. She walked over and took the card from him. “So you know I changed my resolution at the last minute?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah.” Alfonse’s voice was soft, like he was lost in thought.

Kiran went and sat down on the other end of the couch, and they spent a moment in silence with only the fire popping and cracking in the background.

Alfonse cleared his throat, “I wanted to apologize to you, I went overboard with the whole resolution thing this afternoon.” He looked at Kiran, “There’s nothing wrong with what you wrote about taking care of the creatures in the garden, there’s something very noble about volunteering your time to aid others, whether they are human or not.”

Kiran looked at her card, “But, what about the others?” she asked.

“I should have been more supportive; I see that now.” Alfonse said standing up, “I have had some time to think and I came to the conclusion that we all tried to make some resolutions that revolved around our interests and are easy to keep.” He smiled at Kiran, “And there’s nothing wrong with that! As long as we are all making life improvements I believe we have accomplished our goal and can grow from there.” He turned to leave and Kiran got up from the couch to follow him. “Now, I have to go make amends with Anna & Sharena.”

“Soooo, I don’t have to keep the resolution to eat more vegetables, right?” Kiran asked, she was eager to drop this pledge she made.

Alfonse laughed as he reached for the door, “Please don’t keep that resolution. You’re pretty cranky on an all-vegetable diet!” he opened the door and turned to leave. “Speaking of food, later I’m going to stop by the kitchen and pick up a bowl of noodles.” He turned and gave Kiran a grin, “Should I put the noodles in the bath before or after I get in?” Alfonse asked Kiran trying to sound sincere.

“Whaat? No!” Kiran cried, hitting Alfonse on the arm while he laughed at her.

“I’m just trying to learn new things!” he laughed, dodging her attacks, “Goodnight Kiran!” he waved and called out as he turned away to leave.

Kiran closed her chambers door and went back to the couch and picked up her card. _“Help Look After the Garden Animals”_ she read the card over and smiled. She placed it on the mantel of the fireplace and turned to clean up the mess that was left by the tub.

“Next year will be different!” Kiran said out loud, “and I can’t wait for it to begin!”

End


End file.
